Writing Update: Practice Does Make Perfect

I've always considered myself a slow writer. Whether it was because I had too much schoolwork, or because I just didn't have the inspiration that day, drafting for me has always been a long and arduous process. My first two novels each took about two years to write and edit.

That's changing with my current project: ARDEN HAYES' GUIDE TO SAVING LIVES (which was originally called Waves of Time, but I like this new title better. It could change again, though. We'll see).

My first drafts are fueled by tea and desperation

Since I'm going to college this fall, I know I won't have much time to write after the end of summer. For that reason, I ramped up production on ARDEN, with the goal of completing a 65,000-word first draft in the next *checks calendar* 53 days. It helps that I quit my lifeguarding job, and I'm not taking summer classes this year.

It used to be that writing more than 500 words at a time was an achievement. These days, I'm rating at over 1,000 words per day. The crazy thing is, it doesn't take me long to write that many -- the other day, I reached my 1,000 words in less than an hour while I was waiting for my siblings to finish their swim practice.

It definitely helps that my schedule is pretty clear nowadays, but the number one thing that contributed to this rise in production is simply practice. Exactly a month ago, before I started writing faster, my draft was at 10,000 words. Now, it's at 34,000, and by the end of today it will be 35,000. Once you know you can do 1,000 words in a day, it becomes easier to do it again. And again. And again.

Well, I'm off to make a dent in today's 1,000 words. Here's to a productive writing summer!